I’m a soppy bugger and like any excuse to exchange extra smooches/cards/poems/sweeties with my honey.

If, however, you are busy bah-humbugging the holiday for its Hallmark-hijacked cuteness and the current adverts/shop displays have left you feeling queasy, here’s my Valentine’s Day antidote.

Step 1. Listen to Jonathan Coulton. I ‘discovered’ this internet sensation relatively recently and my favourite song is probably Re. Your Brains as it’s about zombies and has the immortal line: ‘We’re not unreasonable, I mean, no one’s going to eat your eyes’. However, Code Monkey, is also fabulous and probably a little more romantically suitable.

Step 2: Watch The Flight of the Conchords singing Business Time (above). If you haven’t already done so, purchase both seasons of the TV series which followed their stage show.

Step 3: Snuggle with your beloved. If you don’t have a readily-available beloved, snuggle with a book. I’m loving Laini Taylor’s The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It definitely deserves a Valentine’s smooch. Mwah!

I gave myself three weeks for the Big Rewrite and the deadline is Wednesday. How am I doing?

Not bad.

I’ve definitely been working hard. My procrastination levels have been at an all-time low and that feels wonderful. I’ve been immersed in the world of the book, falling back in love with it, and waking up in the middle of the night with the characters yammering away demanding my attention. Also wonderful.

On the flipside, I’m no longer capable of speaking in complete sentences and my usually messy house is bordering on insanitary. The kids have got used to my glazed expression when they’re trying to talk to me and my friends probably all think I’ve died.

Also, I just read this post by Australian novelist Nathan Farrugia. It’s all about the next stage in the editing process – the stuff that comes after a book is accepted by a publisher and another round of rewrites/line-edits begins.*

If you want me, I’ll be in the corner chewing rabidly on some post-it notes.

* Is it wrong that the phrase ‘line-editing’ gives me a fluttery stomach?